Immediate Family

About Capt. Matthias Nicoll, Jr.

Secretary of Duke of York's commissioners, First secretary of the English province of NY, mayor of NYC, speaker of the General Assembly

Part of the expedition of Governor Richard Nicolls, probably a kinsman in spite of their use of quite different coat-armor, Captain Mathias Nicolls at once became Secretary of the newly-named Province, and, being an able lawyer, at once compiled the famous "Duke's Laws," which were promptly adopted by an assembly of delegates convened at Hempstead, Long Island, early in 1665. Captain Nicolls had been secretary of the commission which received the surrender of the Dutch, and he not merely gave laws to the conquered colony, but became their interpreter, putting his legal training as barrister to use by serving as Clerk of the Court of New York, Presiding-Justice of the Court of Assizes, Judge of the Court of Sessions, first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1672 he was Mayor of New York City, and in 1683 Speaker of New York's first Provincial Assembly. Proprietor of "Plandome," an estate of two thousand acres at Great Neck and Little Neck, Long Island, he became the ancestor of a rapidly increasing wave of descendants which has carried his blood into nearly all the old patrician families of New York. A well-known descendant, Mr. De Lancey Nicoll, has in our days been District Attorney of the City of New York, while to the generosity of another descendant, Mrs. Erastus Gaylord Putnam, a Vice-President of The National Historical Society.

Matthias Nicoll (1630 – December 22, 1687), aka Nicolls, was the 6th Mayor of New York City from 1672 to 1673.

He is the patriarch of the Nicoll family which settled and owned much of Long Island, New York. Numerous place names on the island now bear the Nicoll name.

He lived in Islip, Northamptonshire and practiced law there. He was son of a minister.

In 1664 he came to the United States with Richard Nicolls. It is not known if the two were related although some sources say he was Richard's nephew.

Matthias was Richard's secretary and was present to the first surrender of the Dutch New Amsterdam to the English. He was clerk of the court in the new English colony and served various judge roles.[1]

He was a member of the Convention at Hempstead, New York in 1664-1665 that established the laws for the new colony.

In 1670 he bought land in present Plandome Manor, New York/Plandome, New York, and he is said to have named it for the Latin 'planus domus' meaning 'plain' or 'peaceful' home.[2]

In 1672 he was appointed New York City Mayor, and served for two years.

He was Speaker of the General Assembly under Thomas Dongan in 1684 which guaranteed religious freedom to Christians.

One of his children, William Nicoll, would sell the Plandome Manor in 1718, then over 1000 acres, and move to his own estate of 100 square miles (260 km2) on the Great South Bay in present day Islip, New York. The Suffolk estate Islip was named after their ancestral home in England.

He and his wife were buried in front of the manor home, although the exact spot is not now known because it was vandalized. A plaque on Plandome Road marks the general area.